Andrew Neil hits out at 'far-Left agitators and cranks' behind GB News boycott

Andrew Neil has branded the political activists behind an advertising boycott on GB News as "far-Left agitators and cranks" in a staunch defence of his Right-leaning TV channel.

Speaking on his Mediawatch show on Thursday night, Mr Neil dismissed the Stop Funding Hate group as opponents of a free society.

He also attacked the companies that had given into their demands for acting as the "useful idiots of bigots bent on censorship".

The attack came as the advertising boycott showed signs of unravelling, with a string of major companies rowing back from initial claims they had blacklisted the new channel.

Mr Neil, who is chairman of GB News as well as its lead presenter, said that Stop Funding Hate had started "rounding up the lynch mob" four months before the channel started broadcasting.

He told viewers: "It is quite remarkable that serious executives and well-established companies can be so easily cowed.

"They have all taken the knee to Stop Funding Hate. It is important they - and you - realise to whom they are in thrall.

"Stop Funding Hate does not stand for a liberal, inclusive society. It is dominated by far-Left agitators and cranks that push for advertiser boycotts of any media organisation with which it disagrees."

Mr Neil added: "Woke nonsense has reached the boardroom and corporate capitalism is becoming the useful idiot of bigots bent on censorship."

Moneysupermarket, Vodafone, Bosch and Ikea earlier on Thursday sought to distance themselves from the boycott campaign after initially pulling their ads. Several of the companies said they could choose to resume media campaigns following a review.

Moneysupermarket, the price comparison website, was the first to reverse its decision to "pause" advertising on GB News.

A spokesman tweeted: "Just to confirm that Moneysupermarket is not boycotting its advertising on GB News, sorry for any confusion caused."

Swedish furniture retailer Ikea and mobile operator Vodafone both made clear that they may restart adverts.

A Vodafone spokesman said: "Our advertising appeared on GB News without our knowledge, and we would have preferred to wait to make a commercial assessment of the channel and decide what advertising was right, and in what volume. We’ll do that now.

"We firmly believe in free speech, while also standing firmly against hateful and harmful content. We are not involved in any boycotting.”

Bosch had previously indicated that it would stop its adverts appearing "on political channels".

But in a fresh statement the appliances manufacturer said that while it had ended an advertising campaign on GB News early, it would now review this position.

The shift in tone provides a brighter end to a turbulent first week for GB News, which has pulled in a large audience despite technical setbacks, viewer complaints and pressure from campaign groups.

Stop Funding Hate started the boycott by publishing a list of GB News advertisers online to rally support behind its efforts to starve the channel of advertising income.

Kopparberg, the Swedish cider maker, Grolsch, the Open University and skin care brand Nivea, Insurer LV=, Pinterest and Specsavers were among those that paused their advertising.

On his Mediawatch segment, Mr Neil added: "GB News viewers are incensed with advertisers who’ve taken against us. Many have written to tell them so. And their numbers are growing. For three nights in a row this show has been the number one rated show on any news channel available in the UK.

"Add our audience, friends, allies and sympathisers together and we can muster millions of supporters on social media. Not a good idea to be on the wrong end of them."

Some brands indicated that they pulled adverts because they had not given permission to be included on GB News.

Its advertising sales are handled by Sky Media, part of broadcaster Sky, which negotiates on behalf of its own channels as well as third parties such as Channel 5, Fox and MTV.

Sky Media’s advertising campaigns commonly target specific audiences across a range of channels based factors such as age, gender and socio-economic group.

It is understood some brands have been linked to GB News as part of existing deals.

GB News launched with more than 250,000 viewers on Sunday night, easily beating both BBC News and Sky News in the ratings.

The channel attracted more than 350 viewer complaints over comments made about coronavirus by Tonight Live presenter Dan Wootton on Sunday night.

A spokeswoman for GB News said: “The audience data already far exceeds our predictions, both in broadcast and digital, and we’ve been inundated by messages from our viewer community welcoming GB News as a fresh new voice. We are proudly Britain’s News Channel and we are here to represent everyone.”